Oucanasta saw," she pursued, dropping her voice yet lower,
"that the Saganaw was loved by the pale girl, and her
own heart was very sick, for the Saganaw had saved her
life, and she loved him too. But she knew she was very
foolish, and that an Indian girl could never be the wife
of a handsome chief of the Saganaw; and she prayed to
the Great Spirit of the red skins to give her strength
to overcome her feelings; but the Great Spirit was angry
with her, and would not hear her." She paused a moment,
and then abruptly demanded, "Where is that pale girl now?"
Captain de Haldimar had often been rallied, not only by
his brother-officers, but even by his sister and Madeline
de Haldimar herself, on the conquest he had evidently
made of the heart of this Indian girl. The event to which
she had alluded had taken place several months previous
to the breaking out of hostilities. Oucanasta was
directing her frail bark, one evening, along the shores
of the Detroit, when one of those sudden gusts of wind,
so frequent in these countries, upset the canoe, and left
its pilot struggling amid the waves. Captain de Haldimar,
who happened to be on the bank at the moment with his
sister and cousin, was an eye-witness of her danger, and
instantly flew down the steep to her assistance.
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